President Duterte acknowledges on TV talk show that he invented bank account numbers that he attributed to Senator Antonio Trillanes.

MANILA – Shades of a fake news plot unraveled before the eyes of a television audience on Tuesday night: In a stunning reveal broadcast live on TV, President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledged, admitted and asserted that he “invented” at least one bank account number that he had attributed recently to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

The contrived innuendo had been unleashed by President Duterte in claiming that Trillanes had several currency accounts in Shanghai, Zurich, Geneva, Singapore, Cayman Islands, and British Virgin Islands.

The stunt led one netizen to post her reaction on Facebook, thus:

Reaction to the Duterte invented bank account number, posted as a Facebook comment by a newly minted lawyer.

This incident developed in the wake of Trillanes’ linking the chief executive’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo “Pulong” Duterte and son-in-law Manases “Mans” Carpio to drug smuggling and corrupt activities at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“Para mahuli ko (So that I can catch [him]),” the President replied, implying that Trillanes was trying to fool people.

President Duterte’s move had prompted Trillanes to personally go to DBS Bank in Singapore’s Alexandra Road where he was alleged to have kept an account with a balance of 193,000 SGD and account no. 17-8000-296012, as insinuated by Duterte.

Indeed, Trillanes said, the bank teller informed him that he did not have an account with DBS and, what’s more, the account number he gave was “erroneous.”

Then came this Tuesday televised reveal. Duterte explained in a gotcha tone that Trillanes used the fabricated information, which naturally yielded the “negative” validation outcome.